Phoenix Wright

Haven’t played the Phoenix Wright games on the Nintendo DS before? Objection! Soon you’ll have your chance, as the iPhone version, with all the same tough-to-crack cases as the first DS game, will be coming to the App Store soon. Check out our exclusive hands-on video.

Slightly disappointing to us was the fact that this game essentially takes the two DS screens and lays them one on top of the other for the iPhone’s vertical viewing space. We would have preferred a sexy landscape viewing mode.

The touch controls are mostly the same as the DS, with you tapping on evidence and dialogue boxes to advance the copious amounts of storyline. People who like slower-paced adventure games will enjoy getting into the story and characters (who star in many, many subsequent sequels on the DS), but the anime graphics may make people think there’s a bit more action involved than there actually is.

To many young people, becoming a lawyer is one of the top dream jobs, right next to being a doctor or a video game reviewer. Unfortunately, some people won’t ever achieve their goal. At least there’s Phoenix Wright, a game for those who think the justice system is fun.

Phoenix Wright is not a new game by any means. In fact, it was ported straight from the Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS versions. For the most part this works well, but it would be fantastic to see a version designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch. New content is nonexistent, so if you have already played the DS version, it might not be worth replaying here.

Prosecute the guilty, absolve the innocent.

The storyline consists of five court cases, which require listening to witnesses, gathering evidence, and then using it to your advantage in court. If you have ever watched A Few Good Men, this will all seem very familiar. Each of the cases is unique and witty in its own right, and they manage to keep you interested in the outcome.

Gameplay is broken up into two phases, which both do a fantastic job in preparing you for the verdict. Each case starts with the Investigation Phase, which finds you gathering the majority of your evidence through questioning witnesses and surveying crime scenes.

You tell him.

However, more fun is the second phase, which is called the Court Phase. This is where the most interesting and funny moments come into play. You are tasked with taking all the evidence you have gathered over the first phase and using it to prove that your defendant is innocent. This is also the most challenging part of the game.

While real-life legal battles aren’t normally fun, Phoenix Wright occasionally caused us to break down in laughter or ask ourselves: ‘Did they really go there?’ Occasionally, however, there are moments of quizzical translation, where the dialogue doesn’t sound quite right. It’s too bad, because Phoenix is surrounded by colorful characters like Maya Fey, his legal aide, and Mia Fey, an attorney who taught Phoenix all he knows about the courtroom.

Ports are largely hit or miss, but Phoenix Wright does a fantastic job of recreating an already solid game. If you are looking for a funny and interesting adventure, or would like to live out your judicial fantasies, you’ll want to download this game.

Capcom wasn’t committing perjury when they said that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney would be coming out this week. As proof, we would like to present to the jury exhibit A: the game, live on the App Store. You can buy it here for $4.99.

For those unfamiliar with the popular Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS games, the basic premise is that you scramble around to unearth clues in the Investigation Phase, and then drop truth bombs on the jury in the Court Phase in order to put the bad guys behind bars. We’ll start litigating now, so look for a full review soon.

No objections here! The courtroom drama/ adventure game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is coming to the iPhone next week for $4.99. It contains all five cases from the first Gameboy Advance game, adding a new flick interface for inventory management.

We got our hands on Phoenix Wright for the iPhone a few months ago, and took some video. We think this is pretty much the exact same game as the GBA version, for a bargain-bin price. Check out the new screenshots to the right, and look for our review soon.

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We’d like to thank our sponsor for this week, The House of Da Vinci by Blue Brain Games. There’s a reason Leonardo Da Vinci is the only renaissance figure who routinely shows up in video games you know. With his remarkable inventiveness and genius for creative problem-solving, Da Vinci was a gamer through and through. He was just born 500 hundred years too soon. Thankfully, there are studios like Blue Brain Games to bring him to life in videogame form. The House of Da Vinci, which comes to us courtesy of a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, is a puzzler that seeks to channel the artistry and innovation of its title character.

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